Fearn finally taken down at Stafford

Friday

STAFFORD – The headline at Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday was who didn’t win.

Tom Fearn, the most dominant car in the Late Model division this season, had to settle for a runner up finish to Kevin Gambacorta.

It didn’t seem to bother Fearn all that much.

He was the one who came over to hand the checkered flag to the winner in Victory Lane.

“Congratulations to Kevin, he ran a good race (Friday), got by me early and he did what I usually do,” Fearn said.

That would be – check out on the field.

Fearn moved into second place on the 10th lap, but couldn’t stop Gambacorta from tasking the spot two laps later.

Paul Arute sat in front of both until the 16th lap when both Gambacorta and Fearn slipped underneath him going through the first turn.

Fearn had nothing for the No. 23 car.

“It was about time. I finished second to Tommy enough,” Gambacorta said. “You don’t see a lot of people drive by Tommy and drive away from him. This (car) was unreal. We didn’t touch it from last week, just put a couple of tires on it and that was it.”

SK Modifieds

Keith Rocco had a rough July, but things got better in the second race in August.

Rocco took over first place in the 40-lap feature and won his fifth race of the season, but first since May 18th which was his fourth in a row to start the season.

“What a dry spell we had. This is awesome,” Rocco said in Victory Lane.

Joey Cipriano Jr. finished second with Chase Dowling coming home in third.

Limited Late Models

Duane Provost would love a rewind.

“I would love to start the season over from about halfway through, but it is what it is. I’m just doing the best I can the past few weeks and it’s starting to show,” Provost said.

The two-time defending champion in the Limited Late Model division had to wait until June to pick up his first win of the season, but has been dominant lately, winning three of the last four races including the 20-lap feature on Friday.

Provost, who normally holds back early, tried a different tact.

He quickly moved into third place on the first lap of the feature.

“I bought a couple of tires for the rear and it just hooked up great,” Provost said.

R.J. Surdell, looking for his first win of the season, took the lead on the first lap and held it for the first eight.

“We’re struggling to get that first win, but I will take a podium finish,” said Surdell who finished third. “We’re second in points. We’re running really consistent. I think we have the most top 5’s of anyone in the division. You can’t complain about that.”

Justin Bren took over the lead from Surdell for the next seven laps, but had to settle for second.

“The car was a little tight (Friday)," Bren said. "We threw a lot of changes at it because the car hasn’t been what we’ve been looking for the past few weeks and it definitely responded. Practicing on old tires, qualifying on old tires, and when we put the feature tires on, it was just too tight.”

That opened the door for Provost in the caution-free feature. He took the lead, going low into the first turn on the 15th lap and was able to hold off Bren the remainder of the way.

SK Lights

Marcello Rufrano will be going on vacation in a good mood.

The young driver won his sixth race of the season on the eve of his departure to Italy.

“We made a small (wedge) adjustment before we came out here and it really made the difference,” Rufrano said. “I thought Mikey (Flynn) would challenge me a bit more at the beginning but it paid off in the end, because I started pulling away and was hitting my marks.”

Flynn finished second with Lebanon’s Mark Bakaj in third.

Street Stocks

Mike Hopkins shows up about every other week at Stafford.

He won a feature on May 11, but has struggled since, getting four double-digit finishes in his last seven races.

The driver from Springfield, Massachusetts broke the skid when he took the checkered flag in the 20-lap feature.

“The car has been terrible for a long time,” Hopkins said. We went back from to our original set up and just beat ourselves over the head because we knew we were good and just had to do it.”

George Bessette Jr. gave Hopkins a run late when he pulled into second place with seven laps to go, got close to Hopkins especially on the final lap, but could not catch the winner.

“Maybe if there were a couple more laps, we would have had him but congrats to (Hopkins), he did a hell of a job,” Bessette said.

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